


265 days.

by moonsandstar_s



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 08:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7093633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsandstar_s/pseuds/moonsandstar_s
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>falling in love with someone can happen in two hundred and sixty five days; </p><p>losing someone can happen in the space between one heartbeat and the next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I.

  ** _(DAY 264)_**

She used to be gold.

Her hair, her smile, her voice. She was the sunlight. She was the warmth. She was the shining passages of summer and lazy days of youth spinning away like flurries in distant memories.

Everything about her was painted gold on the surface, but underneath a shimmering coat of light there presided darkness, and that, above all things, was what had always drawn Blake to her, to the girl that was composed of fire and shadow and a language that no one, no one, could ever read.

But now it was gone, all of it, now it was dust and pain, as they were born from dust. Everything had to return to dust in the end. But:

Yang. A phoenix, a martyr, someone who saw into Blake's soul, every corner and fall of it. But the time when they'd been partners was gone now, and the time of light had finally fallen to darkness. They were extinguished. In those memories of the fall of Beacon, so much was blurred and forgotten; there was blood and twisted memories of terror and nothingness, nothing, all of it, her team and partner gone.

But Blake remembered this: her bright eyes.

She thought she'd never see them again.

 

**_(DAY 001)_ **

Their first meeting was nothing short of annoying. Blake did note, with a hint of bitter amusement, that the two sisters looked nothing alike: different hair, different eyes, different builds. The only similarity they could claim between them was that they had no sense to pick up on subtlety.

And then their eyes, lilac and silver. Those were identical in all but color.

And then: her name.

Yang. A tawny drop of gold, a whisper of warmth.

It was beautiful even then.

 

_**(DAY 003)** _

"So you're my partner. Have to say, you're a _hell_ of a lot different from Ruby. It's weird. Do you think so?"

Blake grunted, flipping to the next page of her book with an idle finger. It seemed, she thought absently, that she'd traded the peace of solitude for Yang's chipper personality. She was still working out whether or not it was a good bargain.

"And Weiss is still, well, being kinda bitchy to Ruby, but I guess that's to be expected, she's disappointed... Blake?" Yang's eyes narrowed as she was met with silence. "Alright, if that's how it is... Well, if you're not listening... I think Beacon's pretty great." She paused for a second. "I think Professor Port is incredibly handsome, don't you?"

"Yeah," Blake muttered absently in agreement, before raising her head and looking in astonishment at Yang. "Wait a moment, did you just call Port _handsome_?"

Yang laughed. "I did and you agreed, which shows you weren't listening."

Blake scowled at her, but under the amused glint in her partner's eyes, she could not be angry for long. "Okay," she said. "Okay. I'm listening now..."

 

_**(DAY 024)** _

"Wake up, Blake, or I'll toss all your filthy smut books into Ruby's bed, and we all know how _that_ would go, don't we?"

Blake cracked open one eye as Yang's voice, entirely too cheery for this early in the morning, pervaded her consciousness. "Please don't," she said. "The last thing we need is for her innocence to be demolished this early in the school year."

"Sounds so filthy when you phrase it like that," Yang mused, swatting Blake's head lightly as she passed by. "Jesus, do you wear that bow even when _sleeping?_ Christ, Blake, and here I was thinking that _I_ was dedicated to fashion." Yang scrunched up her face in mock-disapproval before smiling brightly and bounding off to the bathroom, leaving Blake alone. She pressed two fingers to her neck. Her heart was going entirely too fast and she felt her ears pin themselves flat to her skull.

There was so much danger in all she was, and the blood that flowed in her veins was enough to make some humans desire her death.

She didn't think Yang was one of them, but Blake had never coped well with uncertainties, and her partner was every variable in the book.

Gold, but for the first time, Blake wondered if it was merely fool's gold.

"I've never been to Forever Fall!" There was Ruby's voice, loud and bubbling with excitement. Blake rolled over and groaned. A pause. "Gosh, you look down in the dumps. What, does excitement upset the all-knowing Blake?"

Blake involuntarily remembered the last time she had been to the scarlet forest of Fall - a renegade escaping on the back of a stolen Schnee cargo train - and she shivered, almost feeling Weiss's eyes boring into her spine. _Why did I have to get put on a team with her, of all people in this academy... it's almost as though fate is mocking me._

"Not at all," she replied to Ruby, "it's just that it's a rather boring location to visit if you've already been previously."

Ruby gasped and immediately launched into a detailed tirade on how no, Blake was wrong, such a place could never be boring - and Blake tuned her out, as did the rest of Team RWBY.

"One day, Ruby," Yang said, pulling on her gauntlets as she came in, "your vocal cords are gonna snap and believe me, that'll be a miraculously happy day for all of us. You'll be gasping like a fish but you'll be, thankfully, silent." She prodded her fingers into Ruby's cheeks, bunching her lips like a fish's. Ruby smacked her hands away and stuck her tongue out. The admittedly profane gesture Yang sent back made Weiss gasp. "Yang Xiao Long! We do not use that type of behavior!"

Yang winked at Blake. "Defend me, oh valorous partner," she said. "Flipping the bird is totally acceptable in some cases, right?"

"I believe it depends on who you ask," Blake said, thoroughly enjoying the scandalized expression on Weiss's face. "Though doing it to someone as, ah, innocent as Ruby..."

"You're right," Yang said seriously before sweeping low in a mock-bow. "Do forgive me, sister, for showing an unfit gesture - "

"You flipped me off, Yang. I think you should call it like you see it - "

"Ah," Yang said, brandishing a warning finger. "Don't tempt me to do it again."

 

_**(DAY 032)** _

Blake remembered Sun for the first time she'd ever seen him: bearing that cocky grin, all white-gold and smiles like unsheathed knives and confidence. Like the celestial body whose name he wore, he was a being of power and strength, and he had an uncanny resemblance to Adam, all the way.

They had the same way of walking, that total faith in their own strength, and the same gleam of brashness in their storm-gray eyes.

And it was Sun, like Adam, who triggered another event to topple her life into chaos. It was he who indirectly outed one of the biggest secrets in her life; it was he who was the cause of strife, so much strife.

But the beginning of most things started with a single meeting. It wasn't a memory she'd look back on fondly.

They had been in the city, downtown. It was an unusually brisk day, the clouds windtorn, the sea ceaselessly battering itself against the shore in foamy white crests, the sky the color of steel.

"Look," Yang said as they all paused by the docks, the salty spray lashing against Blake's eyes, forcing her to narrow them. "It's a Mistral ship. It must be the Haven students!"

"You witless dunce," Weiss shot back, "that's just a cargo ship with the Mistral crest on it. The students ships come later in the week."

Blake chuckled as Weiss turned her back and Yang began to silently mouth her words in a mocking manner. At her laugh, Weiss spun around with a terrifying expression. "Something you wanted to say, Yang?"

"Nothing at all," Yang said in a conciliatory tone, and when Weiss whipped around, Yang shot Blake a conspirational glance, her eyes saying, _can you believe her?_

Blake snorted, about to respond, when a chilling cry full of anger split the air. "Hey! Stop that Faunus!"

Blake's blood ran cold in her veins and her ears flattened, bristling, before she realized that her team had hurtled to the docks and that the Faunus was not her, but another unfortunate soul.

Except he didn't look unfortunate. He was outstripping his pursuers, a cocky smirk stretched broadly across his face as he _flew_ down the boardwalk, taking the steps three at a time, vaulting himself over the railing and tearing down the cobblestoned street. Blake dimly heard Weiss shout something angrily, but there was a buzzing in her ears.

_Stop that Faunus. Faunus._

_Faunus._

The Faunus boy with tousled golden curls and storm-gray eyes was sprinting down their street now, fleeing like flight itself.  
As he passed them, his head turned, gaze meeting Blake's; there was something in his face that made her own eyes go wide. Some arrogant, self-confident gleam that seemed oddly, horribly familiar. Those dark eyes set in an angular face - and then it came to her in a dizzying rush: Adam. Adam, before he'd turned sour. Adam, before he became a monster.

Adam, whom she had once loved, before the world corrupted him.

This Faunus boy winked at her and she thought, with a sickening surge, that he must know she herself was a Faunus. Of course he did; they could all sense when another one of their kind was around. And then he was gone, receding into the distance, his tail flicking out behind him like a golden pendant.

Blake realized her team was running off, and, her heart in her throat, she took to her feet and raced after them, but in her eyes, she was not seeing the street before her, but a dusty campsite and a flag bearing a snarling scarlet wolf.

 

_**(DAY 033)** _

"Maybe we were tired of being pushed around."; we, we, _we_.

Blake of the White Fang. Blake and the White Fang. Blake from the White Fang.

Blake, White Fang, Faunus, monster, traitor: they blur together until she can't tell anything apart from the other. Until she is a blotted out figure of shadows that bleed together and darkness that swallows her whole.

And then: the aftermath.

She told her biggest secret and now she is wandering; she is sick; she is lost. She is a shadow and she is as insubstantial as a ghost.

In her dreams, she sees Yang's sad eyes, perpetually worried, as if no matter what she does, it will always be wrong, wrong wrong.

She is not human. She is a Faunus.

She is nothing - 

nothing - 

_\- you're a monster, blake -_

She never wanted this. 

 

**_(DAY 034)_ **

"So, tell me about yourself."

Blake stirred her tea, watching as her reflection broke apart and reformed endlessly. "The short version, or the long version?"

Sun looked at her, a trace of uncertainty in his eyes. She wondered how long it had been since a girl hadn't responded to his incessant flirting. Probably never, she thought sourly. He didn't seem like a Faunus at all. If people did take notice of his tail, they quickly forgot it; his looks benefited him in that way. She supposed he was beautiful, with his bright eyes and golden hair, but it was not in a way she could ever truly appreciate. "I don't know. What's the difference?"

Blake eyed Sun. "The former is cut to the chase. The latter is a bit more... distasteful."

He drummed his fingers. "Alright, Christ. No need to get snippy. Short version it is."

"Are you..." She faltered. "Are you familiar with the White Fang?"

His lip curled. "A disgrace to the species if there ever was one. Hate 'em. Holier than thou creeps." The disgust in his voice was like a slap in the face.

 _Deep breaths, Blake._ "I used to be a member of the White Fang."

If the situation hadn't been so grave, she would've laughed at the almost comical way he choked on his tea, spluttering with his eyes round. "No way in hell. _You?_ You're kidding."

"I'm not."

"They're like lions and you're a lamb. I can't - but they're so cruel and you're... not," he finished lamely.

"It's true. However much I wish it weren't..." She closed her eyes. "I can't change it. I suppose I should start at the beginning.

"Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between humans and the Faunus. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there. I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist. Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor. And the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect... out of fear. Out of fear that we would turn the tables again and begin killing. They hate us because we have barely enough teeth to be called monsters... but we're too dangerous to be called human.

"So, I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am... a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow." Her ears flattened. "I would like to say that even now, I'm not ashamed of who I was. Or that I was coerced into working with a group that idealized - and still do - tactics of terror and hate. But the fact is, I'm a liar if I say I don't sympathize with their aims. And that is something you can understand. Because humans may welcome us, they may play niceties and claim to strive for peace, but deep down, most of them will never quite accept us as their equals. The White Fang are iconoclasts, Sun, but they have a point. Humanity is an insular species and what is different from them, they struggle to demonize it, and thus, vilify it."

He stared at her stubbornly. "Not all humans. Not my team." He lashed his tail. "You can't say, 'oh, this group of people is evil', or 'these people are good.' It's never all humans."

Blake looked at the dregs in her teacup. "No, not all of them. But enough of them to make it a problem. One of my teammates is the daughter of the biggest enemy of the White Fang," she confessed. "Once, I was a soldier in a war against her kin."

Sun's brows furrowed. "White Fang's biggest enemy, the daughter of... am I right in guessing that your teammate is Weiss Schnee?"

She looked away with a nod.

"What a slap in the face for you," he snorted. "I met her father once on a school sponsored trip through the Dust factories. He was a dick."

"They can be close-minded."

"Faunus-phobics aside..." He looked at her closely. His gaze was narrow. "I get the feeling you're not saying something. Have you told your other teammates? What's their stance?"

"There's my leader and my partner. They're sisters. They didn't seem to like Weiss's comments, but they didn't speak out against her, either, which makes me reluctant to trust them. The leader is fifteen years old, Sun. She probably has never even _seen_ a Faunus before, so she wouldn't have any personal opinion on us, except for those horrible news reports."

"Fifteen and accepted to Beacon?" He gave a low whistle. "She must be damn impressive. You seen her fight?"

"Not extensively. Not enough to get a gauge on why she would be entrusted to the Academy with two years less experience then the rest of us." Blake rocked back in her chair. "My _point_ is, I don't know them that well. I can't trust them."

"What a problem," he said, but his eyes were dark and watchful. "Why not your partner? One should always be able to trust a partner no matter what."

Blake winced. "I wish I could," she said, "but..."

"But what?" He leaned forward on his elbows. "I mean, look. I saw her when I passed you guys on the street. Tall blonde chick, right? Has a rack that would drive a teenage boy crazy?"

"If she heard you say that," Blake muttered, "she'd knock you into next Tuesday."

He rolled his eyes. "You wish. Anyways, she didn't look like a Faunus hater to me. "

Blake frowned. "What does a Faunus hater look like?"

He smiled charmingly. "They look like they have a stick shoved up their ass twenty-four seven. For example, Miss Schnee."

Blake couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "Okay, so what's your brilliant idea?"

He drained the rest of his surely-lukewarm tea in one gulp and screwed up his face. "Disgusting. Dunno how you stand the stuff. My idea is that you get your ass back to Beacon and present your side of things. It was very courageous to leave the White Fang based on your morals alone, and if I can see that, so should your team. If they come around, great. If not, oh well - they wouldn't be worth it anyways."

She sighed heavily. "You make it sound so simple."

"Nothing is ever simple," he said succinctly, "but I have a feeling you, of all people, know that well."

 

**_(DAY 040)_ **

After the fight with Torchwick, her hands wouldn't quit shaking.

"Blake," Sun whispered in her ear, a little too close for comfort. "They're coming."

Her head shot up so fast she narrowly missed banging him in the face. He swore, and she muttered an apology before looking down the shadowy shipyard.

There was Weiss, stalking through the rubble and moonlight with an inscrutable look on her face, and behind her, relief singing in her expression, Yang.

Blake didn't move, but she could feel Weiss's eyes slicing towards her, pinning her to the ground. A staunch stubbornness welled in Blake's chest as she remembered Weiss's tirade, and Sun's advice.  
  
_I don't care what she says,_ Blake thought furiously. _I won't give up on this one. What she said was wrong and I will not let that go._

But puzzlingly enough, the emotion shining out from Weiss's eyes was not anger or even disgust; it was regret. Blake paused at that. Weiss's fury had not been something that she would have thought tameable; the bitterness from a stolen childhood that had forced her to mature far sooner than she should have was something that Blake could relate to. That kind of anger was not something that ever left you. She set her jaw as Weiss stopped a foot away, eyes studying her - Blake thought, perhaps, that she was not looking for something on her, but _within_ her.

"So," Weiss said. "Still getting into trouble, I see."

"No thanks to you," she retorted sharply, and winced. That _definitely_ was not the way to start this. She skittered away as she felt Sun lightly touch her arm and murmur a word of assurance in her ear.

Weiss frowned at her. "Have you any idea how long I've been looking for you?"

_Wait. What?_

She stared wordlessly at Weiss, effectively rendered mute, and she blinked as Weiss went on. "I've been searching for you for twelve hours. And unsurprisingly, you managed to find trouble. But my point is, during twelve hours, I have had ample time to think over the things I said." She paused, and in her pained eyes, Blake saw the shadow of a young girl. "The horrible things I said about your heritage and blood and past. I know better than anyone how the past cannot be changed. And I'm..." She swallowed. "I'm sorry."

Blake felt her eyes prickle, but she willed the tears away and met Weiss's burning blue eyes. "I forgive you," she said. "I forgive you."

Blake looked to the side as she felt the lightest of touches brush her arm, and then two lilac eyes were peering intently into her own. Yang's. Worry filled them. "Can we talk? Over there, I mean?"

Bemused, Blake nodded assent, leaving the ragtag group of Sun, Weiss, Penny, and Ruby behind. She followed Yang to the white prow of a police car, watching the blue and red lights play over her partner's face. There were hollows under her eyes. In the dim light they looked like bruises. Yang took her hands between her own. Blake thought her partner's hands might have been as flawless as the rest of her, but they were flaked with white scars, testaments to battles long ago. Warrior hands. Blake's fingers prickled, like she was holding them over a low flame.

"You had me so worried, Blake," Yang said, eyes searching. Something in her face stripped away all of Blake's guarded responses, leaving her vulnerable and wounded. "Running out like that..."

"I didn't know," Blake whispered, "if I could trust you."

Yang gave a short laugh. "Me, hating you for being a Faunus - I would never do that. What are you supposed to do? Change your genes?" A solemnity came over her face. "I don't give a damn if you're a Faunus. We're not defined by our blood, Blake, but by our actions - by our victories and losses, our sorrow and love. Never think that something you cannot change has to be the sum of your character."

"So you don't despise the fact that I was a key part in the White Fang's hierarchy? That I was a thieving coward?" _And moreover, that I still might be?_

"I couldn't despise you," Yang said simply, "but how 'key' are we talking here? No vagueness either. Be specific. You owe me a truth."

Blake turned her face away, eyes stinging. "I was the partner of the leader."

Yang gave a low whistle before her fingers gently lifted Blake's chin, guiding their eyes to meet. "That's not your fault either," she said softly. "Do you think I'd judge you for the past? That's all it is, the past. We can learn from it. But it never has to control us." Then she was drawing Blake into a hug, and Blake allowed her, the words buzzing in her ears.  
  
When she let go, the stars seemed to shine a little brighter.


	2. II.

**_(DAY 041)_ **

"You have all my regret for pulling you away from the comfort of your dorm so late at night, Miss Belladonna, but I am afraid it is crucial that I speak with you." 

Blake stared at Ozpin, her heart slamming against her ribs. Every time she saw the Headmaster, she was seized with an irrational fear that he would kick her out of Beacon for lying on her transcript, for registering as a human instead of a Faunus.

But of course, nothing was ever that black and white. She wiped her face blank, and nodded at him. He sat down across from her, surveying her through piercing copper eyes. She shivered. Something about them seemed to slice through her like paper, and she knew lying, in whatever form, wouldn't work. Not on a man who surely must be the master of all deception. 

"I had hoped to glean more... intelligence on the fight that transpired last night. It is to my understanding that you engaged the criminal Roman Torchwick. Another student from Haven was also with you - Sun Wukong of Team SSSN. He voluntarily entered the offensive as well.  Correct?"

"Only because I was in a tight spot, Professor," Blake defended him. "But, yes. That's right." Then she frowned suspiciously. "Sir... How do you know all this?" 

There was the faintest trace of amusement glittering in his gaze. "I make it my business to keep myself informed on the whereabouts of my students in my care," he replied gravely, "from one or two experiences in the past that taught me the fact that it is unwise to do anything else." 

Blake shifted. "Of course." 

He fell silent, watching her briefly through those inscrutable eyes. "Roman is known for working closely alongside the White Fang and the Faunus," he said quietly. He was not looking at her, but at the silver wisps of steam that curled up from his cup into the chilly air. Blake felt her stomach flip over with a sickening surge. "Many would say that is an act that only proves the bloodshed and violent tendencies of the species as a whole. I, however, am of the minority view that only the most desperate would go to such extreme measures, to ally with a corrupted human. And the Faunus _are_ desperate: but this is only due to the cruelty of humanity." He met her eyes. "Blake, why do you wear that bow? Why seclude the most important part of yourself? Why hide who you are?" His expression gentled. "Why hide that you are a Faunus?"

Blake was so stunned that she was surprised at how steady her voice was when she spoke. "So you _do_ know I'm a Faunus, Professor. If that's true, why not confront me sooner? Why wait until now, unless... unless you were waiting for me to show that I was truly opposed to the enemy." She realized that was what he had been waiting for as soon as she spoke. _Ozpin was holding back, trusting me to prove in an inrefutable way that I was against the White Fang. Well, now he's got it. There's not much more solid evidence than an out-and-out battle. Especially with Torchwick. He's their biggest ally._

His expression was sad. "I did not believe you would be the type to respond well to ambigious declarations of knowledge from authority,  especially knowledge as devastating as that. That is why I did not tell you that I knew you were a Faunus. I assumed you had very good reason to hide your true identity. And in practicality, your outward appearance is not of any particular importance to me, so I did not speak of it, nor require you to force honesty to your teammates and peers. I know most of the students that pass through my Academy have inward traits that bely who they seem to be. I am not a tyrant, Miss Belladonna. I do not dictate transparency from my students. It is a fact that all youth will have their secrets, as well as their elders. That does not exclude myself. If a student wishes to confide in me, then I shall hope to have earned that trust, not force it from them, like others. Forced relationships are catalysts for resentment to fester. And of course, resentment has a way of crushing every other emotion. Your heritage is not my concern. I am proud, of course, to run an institute that condemns discrimination. Merit is weighed by actions, not words or where one hails from." His face seemed to grow older, sobering in the gray light of the moon. "Are you sure there is nothing you wish to tell me?"

She thought of Adam's scarred eyes, bloody in the red light of a burning train. She thought of charred bone flecked with ash and blood. She thought of a snarling scarlet wolf, and Sun's sharp white smile, and Yang's sleepless face, and Ruby's shocked silver eyes, and her youth that had somehow gained her entrance to the school. She thought of a dead Faunus and human lying side by side, and how alike they looked in death. She thought of a surging Faunus rally and the White Fang crashing in, violence bleeding out over the stones, watching in horror. Adam's red sword, a flag, a leader dying and her partner dying too, a monster taking his place.

She thought of her nightmares and the burning. 

"No," she said. "No, there's nothing I want to tell you." 

 

**_(DAY 056)_ **

 

"Hey there, nerd." 

Blake looked up as Sun trotted up alongside her. She rolled her eyes. "Do you greet everyone that way? Or just me?" 

"Neptune, too," he said cheerily. "He spends as much time in libraries as you do. Can't understand it, but whatever. You get your kicks from reading - "

"And you get yours from stealing." 

He seemed to deflate at that. "Well, no. That bit was just to impress you, I guess."

"Find a better way to do that. Taking things from innocent people won't win any favors from me. What do you want, anyways?" 

He scuffled at the ground with the toe of his bright sneakers, looking suddenly very uncertain, though she had no idea why. And she didn't have time to wonder about it. She was on her way to the library. Maybe this time she could find something. Maybe a way to stop the White - 

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?" he blurted suddenly, in a very uncharacteristically nervous manner. 

"What?" she said, completely taken aback. _How can he even think about a dance with all that's going on? And how can he think that I would have time for it? He knows what I'm doing, trying to stop the White Fang!_ Her confusion began to give way to anger. "I don't have time to go to a stupid dance, Sun," she spat. "You were with me when we saw Torchwick declare himself an ally at the White Fang faction meeting! You saw him in that Paladin! I have to stop him. I thought you might understand that."

His eyes sparked with hurt. "I saw him," he replied, "but I also saw you back in the White Fang warehouse. You can't - "

"My team's already tried to get me to lay off, Sun," she snapped. "They don't understand, obviously. They're human. But I thought _you_ might."

His eyes hardened. "I'm human in all the ways that count. Enough to see that you're being ridiculous. Swallow your fear and get over the fact that you alone can't stop an entire organization hellbent on destruction. You need to rethink your priorities, Blake." 

"A dance over possible annihilation," she said, tiredness sweeping through her. She was aware she was being horrible, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. "What a choice. My priorities _are_ in line. It's you that needs to rethink things."

He spun around and stalked off, anger clear in the bristling tension of his shoulders. "Fine then!" He yelled over his shoulder. "Maybe when you realize you're destroying yourself it'll knock some sense into you!" 

She spat angrily back at him before getting the sudden, slamming sensation that she was being watched. She turned around and frowned as she saw Yang's eyes, brows raised in surprise, looking at her. 

"What do you want?" she asked stiffly. 

Yang whistled. "Am I interrupting a lover's spat, perhaps?" The words were spoken lazily, but her gaze was harder than iron. 

"Hardly," Blake retorted. "I don't have time to deal with him."

Yang narrowed her eyes. "No. I never thought I would say it, but I agree with Sun. He's right: you don't have time for anything but yourself. You refuse to look beyond that. If you did, you'd see a whole bunch of people are really worried about this obsession of yours." 

"I - "

"Nah, don't talk." Yang jerked her head behind her. Her voice was made of frost. "Come on. You're going to get some sleep - no if's, and's, or but's. When you wake up... I need to talk to you." 

 

**_(DAY 057)_ **

 

"You must be joking." 

"I'm not. I swear." Her eyes were touched with golden light, like honey. "I want you to go to the dance."

"Because a stupid dance is more important than stopping a megalomaniac from allying himself with the White Fang and destroying Vale?" Blake hissed, bristling. "We've talked about this. I can't stop. Not for my sake, but for the sake of many."

Yang recoiled, eyes flashing. "I'm worried about you, alright?" she snapped. "Is that so hard to believe? This - this investigation or whatever, it's screwing with your head! After Ozpin talked to you, all you've been doing is being in the library - you don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't take care of yourself - Jesus, Blake, you're going to run yourself into the ground at this rate. You can't - " 

"Why should you care?" Blake said, drawn to the breaking point by stress and tension. As soon as the words passed her lips, she realized this was the worst thing she could possibly have said; something in Yang's expression turned more frigid than winter. 

"I'm your _partner_ ," she said slowly, enunciating every word. "If that really means so little to you, then maybe you need to do some thinking, Blake. I understand your fear, but you need to look at the bigger picture, because you aren't the only one suffering here - and you're blinded by yourself."

"I didn't mean that, " Blake said. "About you not caring, I mean. I just... the things I saw... the thought of the White Fang coming to power... nothing scares me so much."

"I understand - " 

"No, you don't!" Blake said, the words ripped from her in a snarl. "You've got no idea. You aren't a Faunus, Yang. You're only human. You can't possibly understand what it's like to have the world hate you for something you can't help." 

"But Velvet understands." Yang went white to the roots of her hair, so pale that her eyes looked like lilac disks, wide and inhuman. "Does Sun understand, too?"

Blake blew out a breath. "Yes. He asked me to the dance, too. I told him no, because how can you two even think of that with all the chaos going on right now!"

Something shut off in her partner's eyes. "He did, did he? Then if he understands, go talk to him. Maybe he'll persuade you, because I can't." 

Blake watched her go, teeth grinding together. _Who died and made you leader?_ she thought angrily. _Unless..._

A thought crossed her mind, but the notion was too absurd to contemplate. _Yang may behave like she's light, light, light, but there's something inside her that I recognize. It's broken and cold. Even if she doesn't know it herself. I wonder who ever broke her heart? And how? A few weeks ago I would've thought she was untouchable. She's always seemed so happy, even shallow, but she's not. She is only pretending. She's got another entire universe locked away where no one can see it._ She felt a stabbing pang of agony as she heard a distant door slam. _I shouldn't have yelled at her. She's my partner. I... She's the closest thing to a confidante I've got. Not Sun, because he blurts everything out to the nearest person who will listen. But Yang... I think she'll understand. I don't know that much about her, but I trust her. More than I trust Sun, anyways... I shouldn't have said that to her, about him being able to understand more. Why did I say that? Now she'll feel like she's less than him, somehow, to me, and she isn't... She's just as important to me as he is._

 _Maybe even more so?_ A sly, small voice needled at the back of her mind.

_No. She's my partner. I respect her. Trust her. Like her, even. But I can't say I understand her... not yet, anyways. There's something there though. Something that draws me to her. I wonder... I wonder if she can feel it too. I have to go after her and apologize._

Blake looked at her hands. They were shaking, fingers curling in on themselves. _Waiting won't make it go any faster._ With that thought, she turned and set off. 

 

/ / / 

 

She found Yang in a secluded corner of the library, up on the second floor. She was tucked behind a bookshelf full of volumes relating to the correlation of negative emotions and Grimm. A golden finger of light squeezed through the dusty window and rested atop her, turning her hair to flame, her eyes filled with yellow light like colored dye shooting through water. A book was open, a large ink drawing of a snarling Beowolf dominating a page. Yang's eyes weren't focused on it, though. Clearly, her thoughts were in another world. 

"I shouldn't have yelled at you," Blake said by way of greeting. 

Yang looked up, eyebrows arching in surprise. "Huh. You came after me."

Blake ran a light-fingered touch over the old spines of the books, drawing strength from the familiar touch. "I have to admit that I didn't expect to find you in here. It took me a little while to find you."

"Yeah, well, I seem to be taking a page out of your book. Pardon the pun." 

"There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear from you," Blake murmured, seeing the sharp flare of annoyance in Yang's eyes. "You're pretty mad at me, aren't you?"

"It's not like I don't have good reason, but I'm more disappointed in you then mad at you," Yang said. There was a shadow of sadness in her eyes. "If I went out in the Emerald Forest, I'd probably attract every Grimm in the entire damn thing." 

"That upset, huh?" Blake drew up a chair and sat across from Yang. "I didn't mean to hurt you. You're one of the last people I'd ever want to do that to. I'm sorry, Yang. For what I said about Velvet, about Sun. About you being just an ordinary human. You aren't ordinary. And I'm... I should have listened to you. All of you. My search - "

Yang's next words took Blake by surprise. "I - have I ever told you about my mother, Blake?"

Caught off-guard, Blake stammered. "I - no. No. Ruby said your mom - Summer - "

"I wouldn't listen to Ruby," Yang said. She traced the outline of the Beowolf's broad head, the cruel red eyes, and the anger in them mirrored Yang's own - as well as the tinge of red. "Anything she says about Summer wouldn't apply to me, seeing as Summer Rose... she was _not_ my mother."

Blake's eyes widened against her will. "Ruby's your half-sister."

"Yup," Yang said with a wry smile. "Bet you could've guessed that. We look nothing alike. Hair, eyes, face... She looks just like Summer Rose. I look like my mom. That's what my dad always said, but," Yang paused, "I never knew her. She left right away. Before my eyes even opened. I didn't even _know_ she was my mom until after Summer Rose was killed. I'd always thought Summer was my real mom... But she wasn't. She died, and my dad told me then. And it turned out - I had heard of my mother before. She was on a team with my father and Summer and Qrow. She was Qrow's sister." 

"How did Summer die?"

Yang shrugged, her eyes holding a world of pain. "She went on a mission one day because she was a Huntress, and she... she never came back. Ruby changed... became so much older and sadder. I became... I became obsessed with finding my own mother. With finding answers. And it consumed me and almost destroyed me. And it's going to destroy you too." Yang looked at her. "I see you going down the same path I did, and I'm trying to stop you, because I almost died. I don't want to see you get hurt like I did."

Blake wasn't able to meet that shrewd, piercing gaze. She looked down and murmured, "Why did your own mother leave you?" 

A rustle of page. A sigh. "Honestly? I've asked myself why forever. I've never come up with anything more than guesses. Taiyang never spoke about her. Hurts too much, I guess. It's bound to. When someone you love just abandons you without even a word of _why_... so I decided I'd find out on my own. I started by asking anyone who knew her, no matter how distantly, who she was. What she was like. Where they think she'd gone, and why. Alumni, former professors, shopkeepers, Huntsmen and Huntresses from all over Remnant... all of them looked at me the same way. Like I was a kicked puppy!" She burst out, jaw clenched. "I hated their pity. And none of them helped me at all. I found the first clue by myself, and I kept it a secret from my father. I waited till he was out on a mission, put a sleeping Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I didn't even stop to think... I was so hellbent on finding answers that rhyme and reason could wait. When we finally arrived, I was bleeding, bruised, exhausted... But I didn't give a damn. I'd made it. I arrived at my goal, but in doing so, I destroyed myself... Like you're doing." Yang looked at her intently, leaning into her space. "And then the Grimm attacked. They came out of nowhere, and I had no energy left to respond to this new threat, no willpower. I would have died. I would not be sitting before you right now if my uncle had not swooped in and saved Ruby's life, and my own. Mere chance saved my life - someone cared enough to come and save me. Now I'm doing the same to you. Blake, I don't want to see you get hurt with this reckless search. You have to stop or slow down before - "

"I _can't_. Can't you see that?" Blake's fingers dug into the edge of the table. "You don't know the White Fang like I do!" 

"Then don't stop, Blake, but slow down enough to live your life! I let my own hatred and bitterness control me. I don't want you to do the same." 

"You don't understand. I'm the only one who can do this!"

Yang's eyes flared red. Darkness and warcries stirred in them. "You idiot," she snarled, standing up and wheeling on Blake. A finger jabbed into her chest. "Hell, if Roman walked in here right now, what would you do? What would you do, Blake!" She was shouting. Blake heard, distantly, someone yell at them to take their lovers' quarrel out of the library, but she couldn't bring herself to care. 

"I would kill him," she spat back, ears pinned flat to her skull. "I'd fight him, and I would kill him, I swear."

"You'd lose!" Yang pressed her backward. Red eyes, red eyes, a burning fire... 

"I could stop him!"

The fire swirled ever higher in her eyes. "You can't even stop me!" Yang snapped, and then Blake felt the edge of the table bite into the small of her back. Yang had shoved her, actually touched her. Then, as she stumbled up, she stiffened as those same arms wrapped her up tightly. Fire now seemed to be rushing through Blake's veins as she felt Yang's lips move near her hair, her voice shivering. 

"Please, Blake. Remember that there are people who care about you so much. Me, Sun, Weiss, Ruby... I can't stand to see you so sad. Sleep, recover, and then, come to the dance. I know... " Yang drew back. Her eyes were soft and lilac again, like the last streaks of twilight. "I know he asked you, didn't he? Sun? You should go. And have fun. And..." She paused, seeming uncharacteristically uncertain. "I'll save you a dance, too. If you do make it out tomorrow."

Blake stared at her, taken aback, and when she finally found her voice, she was surprised at how steady it was, when her heart was fluttering like a bird. "I understand now. Thank you, Yang." She took a deep breath. "For... for everything." 

"I'll see you then," Yang said softly, and then she was gone.


	3. III.

 

**_(DAY 058)_ **

 

"This all is beautiful. You and Weiss designed this entire thing?" 

Yang flashed her a mischievous grin. Blake felt her heart stutter: Yang was drop-dead gorgeous, with a sheer dress and deep-set, luminous eyes. "I _did_ promise you the perfect night, Blake. Now, shall we dance before your charming date gets upset that I'm stealing you away from him?"

Blake looked back over her shoulder, to where Sun and Neptune were standing by the punch bowl and roaring in laughter. She felt a flicker of amusement - he looked so out of place, in formal attire. As he saw her watching, he waved; she smiled and turned back to Yang. "He's not my date. I felt bad about saying no to him so rudely in the first place, so I figure I owe him this one thing, to make him happy. Besides, the first thing I told him was that my first dance was spoken for." 

Yang's eyes brightened. "Well, then, we had better get on the dance floor, shouldn't we? This is a good song."

She steered Blake on the dance floor, steady hands guiding her. The very air quivered with the slow beats of music, soft and romantic; Blake's heart skipped a beat at the proximity they shared. There didn't seem to be a need to talk. The light in Yang's eyes said enough. 

 _Forelsket_ , Blake thought, as the music slowed. _The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love._

That was the curious thing about falling, Blake thought. With Yang, it wasn't terrifying. It was soft and warm and comforting. Maybe it was the security of their partnership, maybe it was something more... but all Blake knew, as they spun through the throng in their dance, was that somewhere along the line, Yang had become so much more in her eyes: that she was worth fighting for. 

As Yang passed Blake off to Sun for their dance, he looked down at her and raised a brow. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Blake looked to the side as he steered her past the literal Penny Polendina, who was bobbing her head in time with the music. "That," she said, "is a terrible pun."

"It wasn't intentional, I swear." He gave her a keen look. "An emerald bow tonight, I see. No kitty ears reveal - just a bow. Do you have a whole drawer full of them?"

"Yes," she said gravely. "I even have a multicolored disco one. Sadly, tonight didn't seem appropriate for it. " 

She laughed as he rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Belladonna. Are you excited for the missions? Do you know where you're gonna go?" 

She shrugged and lowered her voice. "We're aiming for the southeast. You remember Roman mentioning that, when we were in the warehouse. How about you?"

He dodged from stepping on her foot and Blake groaned inwardly; dancing with Yang had been much easier, like breathing, but Sun was her friend, and if this made him happy, then she'd grit her teeth and endure. "Neptune's got his heart set on some junior-detective crap. Who am I to crush his dreams?" 

"Smart, probably," she said distractedly, glancing over his shoulder; Weiss was talking with Neptune, and Yang was up on a balcony now, looking down at her. Their eyes met and Blake, unable to conceal the sudden giddiness - God, it was unlike her, what was _happening_? - that rose, unbidden, in her heart. She realized Sun had said something and was looking at her expectantly. "Sorry, what?" she said, flustered, and he sighed. 

"I said - do you want to go hang with Neptune? Dancing with you is great and all, but I'm honestly not a dancer. And you seem to be thinking of... other things. Looks like you could use a break from this scene." Was it her imagination, or did his gaze flicker to Yang's solitary, backlit form for a split-second? 

"That's all right with me." 

"Cool, let's go then." He wove through the crowd, tail curled up, and she felt a guilty pang of relief as her ears twitched; Sun would never be able to hide himself, as she did. But then again, most Faunus weren't like her; they didn't hide their uniqueness. Most didn't curse the blood in their veins. It didn't bring them much trouble beyond a couple jerks and rude shopkeepers. But hers... hers had made her life a living hell. 

Blake shivered and brushed the thought away. Tonight, she had promised Yang, she would relax and recuperate. It was not a night for the thoughts that haunted her mind relentlessly. She forced on a smile as Neptune greeted her with an exaggerated bow, flourishing a hand towards her. 

"Truly," he said despairingly, looking from Blake's satin dress to Sun's barely-formal suit-jacket, "it is Beauty and the Beast with you two. Bananabrain and Belladonna." 

"Oh? Which one of us is the Beast, Neptune?" Sun snapped. " _Which one of us is the Beast?"_

Neptune forestalled answering this question by gulping down a cup of punch and promptly choking. A splash of red landed on his chest. "Dammit," he said, looking at the stain on his lapel. "Screw you, dude. This was newly washed, I'll have you know. Weiss is going to abandon me now."

"Like that's what's going to drive her off, bro," Sun said, pinching his nose and breathing exaggeratedly through his mouth. Neptune looked him up and down suspiciously. 

"I smell all right," he said. 

"You smell, all right," Sun agreed.

As they devolved into good-natured arguing, Blake hid a small smile behind the lip of her cup, tasting the punch. Strawberry, with a hint of acerbic sharpness. It was wonderful. No doubt Ruby, an unsung culinary master, had whipped it up; Blake had seen her haunting the kitchen and ballroom quite a bit in between her trips to the library. Those trips had been what marked the passage of time to her for the past few weeks, instead of night and day. So Ruby had helped with the dance preparations; Blake felt a flash of guilt. It seemed she was the only one of her team who had not pitched in with helping out.

 _Too wrapped up in yourself,_ Yang's voice echoed in her mind. 

"Hey, Blake, want to hear a secret?" 

Blake looked at Sun warily as he gave her a devilish grin. "What is it?" 

"What is the most ironic phobia you can think of for Neptune? Like, the worst. The whole kit-and-caboodle." 

Neptune slapped his shoulder. "Dude, shut the fu - "

"Language, Nep. We've got a lady here."

" _Lady_?" Neptune positively howled. "Blake could kick your ass, Sun! You aren't fooling anyone!"

Sun flushed dark red, and Blake, feeling bad, came to his rescue. "I don't know. Um, is he afraid of Grimm, possibly?"

"Nah, he's not that pathetic. Well, not that being scared of deadly beasts is pathetic," he said, throwing his hands up. "Oh, forget it, guess again." 

"How about... Neptune, Neptune... the Latin god of the sea. Oh, no," Blake said, fighting for his sake not to laugh. "Is it water?"

Neptune looked like he was seconds away from drowning himself in the punch bowl. "You, sir," he scowled, jabbing a finger into Sun's chest, "are a grade-A asshole. I did not give you permission to tell anyone, not even your date - "

"I'm not his date," Blake said in surprise, setting her cup down. 

Neptune's eyebrows rose. "You aren't?"

Sun frowned at him. "No," he said, a note in his voice warning Neptune away from the subject. "Didn't even have the pleasure of claiming her first dance, in fact." 

"Ah," Neptune said, sensing a sensitive topic and wisely steering clear. "You were with the... the bombshell? The blonde bombshell, right?"

Blake looked at him icily. "If that's what you call her. She did give you clearance into Junior's nightclub, you know. You might not have your good looks still, if she hadn't."

Neptune looked pleased. "You think I have good looks?"

"I didn't say that." 

He pouted. "Sun thinks I have good looks, don't you, buddy?"

Sun grinned and flicked his chest with a wave of his tail. "Yeah, whatever, hot stuff. Not many people could pull off blue hair and aviator goggles like you, that's for sure." 

"I'm going to leave you two to it," Blake said. "Tonight has been... greater than I would have thought. Thank you for helping to persuade me to get out of my mind and see the bigger picture, Sun."

He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "It was Yang that got you to listen, not me." He hugged her. "Nevertheless, it was good to see you tonight, and I'm happy you came. I'll see you soon. Missions in two days, remember?"

"See you," Blake said, and she turned and headed for the doors, pushing through the throng. She pushed open the heavy, iron-bolted doors, and they swung open, admitting her to the cool night outside. It was peaceful, calm; the sparkling heavens shone with silver light. 

But then a shout shattered the night. Blake's head whipped around in alarm as she saw Yang running for her, eyes bright with fear. "Blake," she said. "Come quickly. Ruby's been ambushed in the CCT. The General brought her down, but - she's hurt." 

Blake's heart rate tripled, all calmness immediately erased. " _She was in the CCT?_ Why? And who hurt her?"

Yang shook her head. "Bumps and bruises. She'll be fine with a night's rest. It's the person who attacked her that we're worried about. She's back in the dorm. Weiss is with her, but - we all need to talk. The Headmaster is to see her tomorrow - before our missions." Yang's gaze reminded her of a yawning grave, dark and bottomless, holding grim secrets and sorrow and grief. "She thinks this is connected to the White Fang. Maybe it was just a random attack, but..."

"Coincidences never happen. Not in Remnant. Not in these times."

As they both hurried to the courtyard that housed the freshman dorm rooms, Yang filled her in on what had happened. "She left the ballroom to get some fresh air - can't blame her, she's bound to feel out of place with all those older students, being fifteen and all - and went out to the courtyard. She says she saw a woman in dark spy clothing running from roof to roof and she followed her, because, you know, she's a Huntress, and anything out of place makes her suspicious. The woman went out of sight but Ruby found an unconscious guard stuffed in the bushes at the base of the CCT, so obviously the woman went in there; Ruby went inside, found more knocked-out guards, took the elevator to the top, and the woman ambushed her there. She might..." Yang paused and swallowed. "She might have killed Ruby, but the General had followed the same clues as Ruby, and he intervened just in time. The woman got away. God knows how, though. Ruby says she turned around and she was just - gone."

"And she's no idea who the woman might be?" 

"None at all." Yang turned solemn, reflective eyes on her, silvery in the moonlight. "I mean, who would want to break in the CCT?"

"We didn't see any high-importance females with the White Fang," Blake wondered aloud, "not except that girl that Roman called Neo, with the glass-illusion on the highway - "

"Ruby said it definitely wasn't her, this woman was taller and had dark hair - " 

"And the White Fang... I know their leader..." A painful pang struck her as Adam's face shivered to life in her mind. "He'd never trust a woman with that sort of job." 

"Sexist bastard," Yang growled. "Didn't you tell me you used to be his partner?"

"I like you," Blake said bitterly, "a lot more than I was ever fond of him in the end."

"Good to hear. But mightn't this woman be someone we haven't seen before?"

"There's always a chance." Blake's jaw set as they clattered up the stairs into the hallway. It was shadowy, bars of moonlight striping the rich carpet. Silence lay like a thick blanket upon everything. As Yang took the lead, fumbling with her roomkey and swinging open the door, Blake blinked at the sudden light that poured from the room. Ruby was sitting on the edge of her bunk, staring out the dusty window. She didn't seem to be injured, aside from a couple bruises slowly darkening to violet. There was a thoughtful look in her eyes, and she barely looked up as they entered. Weiss - who had apparently changed out of her dance dress, probably leaving a dejected Neptune behind in favor of her partner - was reloading Myrtenaster with a savage sort of determination. Ice Dust coated her hands, and Blake looked between them with a frown, finally coming to stand across from Ruby. 

"You look like you're planning something," Blake said to her team leader. "Is that right?" 

"I'm actually mulling over how to turn this attack from this strange woman to our advantage in the investigation. I'm okay," she added, forestalling Blake's question as she opened her mouth, "and I'm having some ideas, but one of them... I think I've got it." 

Yang pounced on that. "Well, what is it?"

Ruby's gaze had an edge of craftiness. "Well, we do have missions the day after tomorrow. We know we want to go to the southeast, right?" She looked around as Weiss, Yang, and Ruby nodded assent. "And we dunno if that'll even be a mission option whatsoever. If it's not, and we can't go to the southeast, we lose our chance to figure all this out entirely. So we need a backup plan to be absolutely sure it is. Well, that's what I've been formulating. How to make sure Ozpin puts 'southeast' on the options. I'm going to tell him that the woman mentioned the southeast." 

"But you said she didn't talk," Weiss accused Ruby. 

"No," Ruby said thoughtfully, touching the shadow of a bruise on her wrist, her gaze more distant than the stars. "No, she didn't. I'm going to lie that she did. I hate lying to Ozpin, but in this case I think it's necessary. Anyways, even if you can't lie to him, I can try... But he seems like he knows everything." 

Blake thought of her talk - interrogation - by Ozpin, and shuddered. _Too true_. 

"He's summoned me to talk with him day after tomorrow, just before the assembly when we get dispatched. I'm going to sleep now. Maybe I'll have another idea when I wake up." Ruby swung herself into her bed, feet scrabbling for purchase as the ropes creaked and swayed, and Weiss frowned up at her. 

"I don't like that plan," she announced. 

"Too bad." Ruby's voice was slightly muffled against the pillows. "I know you're worried, Weiss, and I am too, but this is the only option I've got."

"Ruby." Yang joined Weiss, her voice sharp. "You could have _died_ tonight."

A pause. Then, "Well, I _didn't_ , thanks to the General's timing." 

"She's right," Blake called. "You really ought to be more careful. If you had been hurt - "

Ruby's head popped up, silver eyes blazing with a warrior's spirit. "Blake," she said softly, tiredly, "you know what's at risk. More than all of us, probably. I _had_ to follow her. I'm a _Huntress_. It's my duty."

Blake fell silent. Yang gave her sister a worried look and said, "You must, at least, be careful. If I lost you - "

"If _we_ lost you - "

"I don't know what I would do." Yang looked at her feet, seeming lost, and Blake looked at her, wondering how she could ever have thought Yang was just a shallow girl pursuing an ill fit dream. She was a sister, a daughter, a warrior, a dreamer, but underneath all that she was the same as Blake: the exact same component formed her. She was a survivor.

 

_**(DAY 059)** _

 

"Great Vale," Ruby said with a tired certainty, "If I have to go at another sparring match with Pyrrha, or do another Grimm-identification sheet with Weiss nagging, to prepare for tomorrow, I'll die." 

Blake snorted, flicking her hand to turn a page in her book. "That seems a bit drastic, don't you think? You can't die, anyway. You've got to talk to Ozpin tomorrow, and I'm fairly sure we need you for our mission."

"Yeah, yeah. I see you, Blake, reading and _not studying_ instead. You should be doing worksheets. Or sparring. You got a seventy on the last test. That's even _worse_ than what Yang got - and that's a feat in itself." 

Blake flicked a glance to Yang. "Worse, am I? Well, was your grade?" 

Yang winced in painful recall. "Seventy- _one_. Port gave me an extra point out of pity, I think. I've never bombed a test that badly since Signal." She shuddered.  

Blake was outraged. "So you got an extra point and I didn't? Why?"

"Because I'm goddamn adorable," Yang declared, saying it like she thought Blake was an idiot for asking. "I don't ask for the teachers to love me, but it happens, and I won't protest."

"If that isn't the biggest load of crap, Yang," Ruby snorted, "then I'm an Ursa. Goodwitch gave you detention twice last week."

Blake grinned. "What for?"

"I think it was the fact that I wrote 'jaune x weiss _5never'_ on her chalkboard with unerasable ink before class so the next generations of students can know of the disgusting heterosexuality fail I had to witness between them," Yang said ruefully. "Jaune didn't seem to appreciate it. But Weiss gave me five Lien, so, worth it." 

Weiss gave a little hum from her side of the room. "I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about," she said mischievously. "But if you try to shut down ignorant boys that pant after me, then I'll gladly reward you."

Blake chuckled. "Well done."

"Thanks!" 

 Laughing, Ruby swung herself off the bunk bed with a creak. "I'm going to hang out with Jaune and Pyrrha. I'll see you guys later." 

She pranced out the door. As Ruby left, Yang got up, prowling restlessly. She stalked to the window and threw aside the stitched curtains, allowing bloodred sunset light to flood the room. 

"Ugh," Yang said in disgust, twitching the curtains closed and turning to Blake and Weiss with a scowl fixed on her features. "You'll never guess what's in the sky now." 

"Don't tell me," Weiss said frostily, running her index finger along Myrtenaster's blade. "More of Ironwood's fleets? I would guess my father is aiding him financially. Of course. Ozpin will not be pleased."

"Him and Ironwood are acting all gung-ho peace with each other, but you can tell they're both pissed. It's making the Atlas students be little assholes to us, too." 

"The General thinks that bringing in an influx of military equip will be beneficial to Vale," Blake explained. "Mistakenly so, of course, but that's what he thinks."

"I don't care what he thinks. He's a hideous bitch and he has _got_ to be stopped."

"Yang," Weiss said reprimandingly. " _Language_."

"Yeah, okay, thanks for the lecture, Mom," Yang said, accompanying her dry words with an eyeroll in Blake's direction. Weiss muttered an insult before flouncing out of the room. Blake smiled, returning her gaze to the book in her hand, and she sighed as Yang's attention immediately wandered to her; she sank down into the seat next to Blake bringing a wave of the scent of jasmine shampoo and a flashing grin with her. Blake felt a flutter in her chest.

"Oh God," Yang said, neatly plucking the book out of her hand. "If this is a porno again, I'll scream, I swear. Or show it to Glynda." 

Blake flushed. " _Yang_ ," she hissed, trying to put every ounce of her embarrassment into the word. 

"No?" Yang studied the book more closely, flipping through the worn pages with a filed-off nail. Her brows drew together as she read. "' _Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by a idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing...'_ "  

Blake removed her book from Yang's hand. "Shakespeare," she said softly. "I don't expect it would interest you."

 _Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing_.

"It's not very happy, is it?" Yang stared at her. There was a puzzling mixture of sadness and hurt in her eyes. "Don't you ever read happy things?"

Blake plucked the book from her hands. "Happiness is often an illusion," she said. "Something I thought you would understand - you, of all people, _should_ understand that." 

Yang recoiled. "What the hell," she said, words sharp as broken glass, "is that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know." 

Her eyes held a shadow of scarlet. Gone was the girl that had, minutes early, joked about Ironwood. "If you're talking about my mother - "

Blake put her head in her hands, light squeezing through the gaps in her fingers like it might filter through prison bars. "God. Yang - that's not what I meant." She peeked through the gaps in her fingers, voice muffled. Yang's face was taut and tired, gray, sleepless shadows forming crescents under her eyes. "Does it ever bother you? Not having a mother?"

"Every day," she said steadily, eyes burning into Blake's. "Every day." 

Blake sighed and closed her book. "I'm terrified of what we'll find tomorrow," she admitted. "If Ruby's talk with Ozpin will succeed, if we'll make it to the southeast, and if we do, who will be there..." 

"The White Fang, you mean? You _know_ they'll be there. Torchwick said it flat-out, Blake." 

"They don't scare me," she said, "not the lesser members. They're just misguided. Not dangerous and not bent on personal revenge. It's - "

"Your ex-partner." Yang whistled, long and low. "Do you really think he'll be there?"

One side of Blake's shoulders rose in a helpless shrug. "There was a time I would have know him enough to answer that, Yang. If it's important enough, he'll be there." 

"Are you important enough?"

"Yeah," Blake said. "To him. Not to anyone else."

"Not to yourself, " Yang corrected. "To me, you are. I will protect you." 

 

**_(DAY 060)_ **

 

Blake jerked awake and was instantly aware of the clock flashing red: 12:37 AM. It was the next day in a practical sense, the mission day, but to her mind, it was still night and therefore the same day. Something had woken her and as she turned her head down, she almost jumped out of her skin. Yang was standing there, face tilted up. There was the faintest gleam where her eyes were. 

"Something interesting?" Fast as lightning, Blake reached over and circled Yang's wrist with her fingers. 

"Blake! Jesus. You scared the shit out of me." Yang shook her off resentfully and rubbed at her wrist. "You sleep damn heavily, you know. I was thinking I was going to have to pinch you to wake you up."

"The one time I actually obey curfew," Blake said in a voice that came out her mouth and nose more like a growl, "the Jolly Yellow wakes me up. What do you want now? Can't I sleep?" Blake knew she was being unreasonably angry, especially to someone she was falling for more and more by the day, but in light of having the first dreamless sleep she'd enjoyed in weeks interrupted, she wasn't feeling charitable. 

" _The Jolly Yellow_?" Yang looked incredulously amused. "Christ. You're cranky when you wake up. Are we trying insulting names now? Can I call you sugar-pie snookums?"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Why did you wake me up?"

"To show you something  before we leave, obviously," Yang said, teeth flashing like a curving crescent in the dark, and that was what convinced Blake. "Come on." 

. . . 

 

"It's cold as balls out here," Yang said cheerfully. "Isn't it, Grumpy Cat?" 

"I'm not going to comment on that," Blake said. "Show me what you came to show me.

"All in time, my impatient friend," Yang said. She was silent for a couple of minutes, before she grinned. "Now, look at the moon."

Blake wondered briefly if Yang had lost her mind. Looking at her, it didn't seem so, but you could never tell. With the defeated air of someone resigned to suffer, Blake looked upward. 

And her eyes widened. 

The moon _shivered_ , like it was the reflection of itself in water, rippling and undulating like the sky itself was cracking with light. Blake's eyes narrowed as she watched it slowly bleed from white, to orange, to ugly scarlet. 

"Yang, _what_ \- " 

Yang shushed her. "Keep watching. I can't believe you've never seen this, honestly."

"There wasn't much time for education or stargazing in the White Fang, believe it or not." _That's why I love reading so much now..._

Obligingly, she trained her eyes on the discolored moon again. The bloated fragments hung heavily in the sky, the shade of wine. As Blake watched, the sky itself shook -  and then shadows began to race across the moon, blurred and too fast to distinguish what they were; she caught a glimpse of sharp, slashing fangs, whirling wings, and eyes the color of the bloody moon, before the shadows thundered out of her view and dissipated into the receding night. 

Blake's heart slowed. "What _was_ that?"

"Dad always called it the Blood Moon," Yang said. "It comes on the cusp of summer and autumn. That's when the light goes all funny as it bounces off Remnant and turns the moon red. And it's when the airborne Grimm migrate to Menagerie. That's what those shadows were. They call it the Shadow Pack. Usually they kill everything in their way - and no Hunter has ever been able to stop them. There's actually an old legend about it."

"Indulge me, because apparently you're the expert here. What's the legend?"

"They say that on the shortest night of winter, a human - or a Faunus - will be absorbed into the Pack and is never seen again. They become one of them. Completely subservient to whatever it is that controls the Pack. It's a stupid story, obviously, but something about seeing the thing gives me a thrill. I think it's exciting."

"You think in feelings," Blake replied. "I think in words on a page. And right now those words are telling me that is a very dangerous thrill that results in death." 

Yang lay on the grass. The stars were reflected in her eyes, as well as the cracked moon. "There's something about the idea that's appealing," she said softly. "With losing all control. Not having to worry anymore."

"I guess so," Blake said, sitting back and looking up at the night sky, spattered with stars. "But that... to lose any sense of who you are... that seems terrifying to me."

Yang rolled on her side, eyes searching Blake's face. "I wouldn't know. Not with you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"You're very distant around me, Blake. It's like... It's like you don't even like me."

Nettled, Blake stared at her. "I do like you, Yang," she said, thankful for the nighttime darkness to cover her reddening face. "But perhaps that's simply how I am. Distant."

"See?" Yang flopped back down with a weary sigh. "Even when I'm pointing out a flaw, you're so measured... it's like you've got no fire at all. But I guess... well. That's to be expected with all the crap you've gone through..."

Blake made an injured noise in the back of her throat. "Quit looking at me like I'm a kicked puppy," she said. "Just because I'm a Faunus doesn't need to ostracize me from you."

"Because there are Faunus who aren't discriminated against at all? Look at Velvet. Upperclassmen and the nicest student at Beacon, but people still treat her like crap just because of her genes. If you didn't hide it - "

"Faunus blood isn't equivalent to hatred," Blake pointed out. "It is usually, unless you can get a freebie. I mean, look at Sun. I've never seen someone act in a manner towards him that would suggest hostility, internalized or otherwise."

"Sun? Yes. I've noticed you two are getting... close." There was a slight edge to her voice, but Blake ignored it as she went on. "You know he's only glorified because he's got that whole chiselled-blonde, modeling-companies-wish-they-could-afford-me look." Yang's voice was sour.

Blake stifled a laugh. "He's not like that."

"Is he?" Yang sat up. There was a very unsettling look on her face. "Think it over. I'll see you later, Blake." She scrambled to her feet and was gone before Blake could even open her mouth to call her back. Looking at her receding shadow and the night full of the ashes of other dead souls, she felt how infinitesimal she was. 

Blake was filled with an unnamed longing so great she could not bear it. 

 


	4. IV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy crap it's been a while. sorry for the long wait!!! without further adieu, here's chapter four. we're getting closer to Blake's choice between the two blondes that are clearly in love with her jfc - 
> 
> A note for all you readers of 'Things You Wrote on the Walls' ; keep an eye out, because the sequel will be out in about a month - month and a half's time c:

 

**_(DAY 060)_ **

 

"How did it go?"

Blake smiled privately to herself, yawning from the lack of sleep from the previous night, as the door swung open and Weiss and Yang immediately pounced on Ruby with questions. 

"I know," Ruby said tiredly, "that I could really go for a plate of chocolate chip cookies right now." She perked up as Yang promised her better than that, if she relayed a full account of her talk with Ozpin. 

"He knows that the woman didn't talk to me," Ruby said. "No clue how he knows, but he knew, I could tell. But I'm positive I've gotten the southeast on the radar. Now all we've gotta do is wait." 

 

**_(DAY 061)_ **

 

"God, I'm starting to hate the sight of stone and half-done buildings," Yang complained. 

"What about Grimm?" Blake asked soberly, swerving out from the flanking formation that her team had formed behind Doctor Oobleck. "Because here come a few."

"If that's your definition of a few," Ruby shouted over the thunder of howls as the Grimm raced for them, "I'm gonna kick you from here to Patch!" 

Blake grinned, drawing Gambol Shroud and springing upward as a Beowolf's jaws closed viciously where she'd been moments before. Falling, her blade plunged into its neck, black blood spattering the pavement. Even in the icy fire of adrenaline, sickness surged in her. 

"Blake! Move!"

She whipped around just in time to see a Beowolf leaping towards her, all black fur and red eyes and slavering jaws. She stumbled and fell as hot breath swept towards her, and the huge front paws flew towards her, savage claws aimed straight at her hammering heart. 

Just as the white talons raked at her throat, a golden blur broadsided the wolf and sent them both skidding. Blake scrambled to her feet, wiping blood from her collarbones, and saw it had been Yang who saved her life. The two of them, Grimm and Huntress, souled and not, grappled on the shattered ground until the Beowolf gave a horrible screech, rolled over, and died. 

Blake stared, stunned, at her partner. Winded, Yang rolled to her feet and wiped blood from her gauntlets. 

"This makes up for the time," Yang panted, "you saved my ass in initiation. From that Ursa. Sorry to steal your thunder."

Blake was about to tell Yang that her having just saved her life more than made up for any stolen bravado, but she lost the chance as Oobleck whistled. "Time to move along, students. I believe that the emotions running high in this group are making the Grimm more prevalent and likely to attack. We need to find shelter quickly." Was it her imagination, or did his eyes flicker to Yang? 

They found shelter in a half-finished tenancy. Unlike anything else in the ghost city, it was devoid of Grimm, and Yang quickly set about sealing off all the entrances except for one, and kindling a fire. As the spark curled into a flickering tongue of flame, Blake walked outside. 

The sun had begun to set in the sky, turning it all the colors of autumn: gold, scarlet, amber. The very first stars had dawned. Night was falling fast, bringing the creatures of darkness with it, but for now she was content to enjoy the last rays of warmth and think over what was coming. 

_We'll probably sneak off tonight to look for the White Fang. And what will we find? I don't know. I don't want to think about it. I just pray that Adam won't be there.  If he is... we will not find leniency. He's strong, stronger than me, than Yang, and maybe even stronger than all of us... his hatred lends him a fierce, burning strength._

_If we do manage to get out of this in one piece, it will be a miracle._

"So you're sneaking off to watch the sunset, huh? You never struck me as that kind of person, Blake." 

Blake turned to see Yang, and gave her a thin smile. "Nothing that calm, I'm afraid. I'm thinking." 

"Ah, meditating, I see. Penny for your thoughts?" 

Blake remembered Sun saying the exact same thing to her, and sighed. "There's already enough uncertainty among us without adding more." 

"You're thinking about what lies ahead, aren't you?"

"That's either a shockingly good guess, or you're reading my mind." 

"You're an open book, Blake." Yang shrugged and walked over to her. "Whatever we find, we'll find it, at least, and stop it. Let that comfort you."

"We're four Huntress apprentices, not Team Good," Blake said irritably. "There's every chance we won't be able to stop it." 

"I'm not sure there is a 'Team Good'." Yang's eyes reflected the bloody fire of the sunset, all leaping flame and scarlet. "You're always going on about how the White Fang are good deep down. Well, they're our enemy in the end."

" _'Team Morally Confused_ ' doesn't sound as sharp, Yang."

"Har, har, har. Your wit is astounding." She looked seriously at Blake. "But you're still unsure of this, aren't you?"

"I am."

"I can see the anger and hate in you, Blake," she said softly. "And I see that it hurts you." 

"I don't want to be a cruel person." She turned away, unable to look at her partner. "But sometimes I wonder if Adam made it impossible for me to be anything else."

"You aren't like that," Yang insisted. "Believe me, that's not what I see when I look at you. I see so much more. You're strong. Intelligent. Courageous. Forgiving. You are beautiful." 

Blake looked at Yang; she was staring unabashedly at her, the wind stirring the air between them. "You really think that? Even after - "

"Dammit, Blake. When will you realize that I don't blame you for having a shitty background? We all do! All of us. Ruby's mom died. My mom abandoned me. Weiss's father crippled her spirit, probably forever. I've said it before: that doesn't define us, our pasts. We just have to bear it courageously, learn from it, and move forward." She scuffled her feet in the ashes coating the ground. "And you are a good person. Nothing you can say or do will make me stop believing that."

"I've destroyed lives. I've been part of Weiss's pain, even if indirectly. I've partaken in a group that only bestows pain and misery in the name of a so-called justice." She narrowed her eyes. "I've _killed_ people for Adam, and you call me _good_?"

"' _Only by facing our own guilt and misdeeds can we make amends and move forward_ '," Yang said. "One of my old teachers always said that."  

Blake stared at the ground, and Yang reached over, ruffling her hair fondly. "Think about it, Blake. And get some sleep. I think we're going to have a long night." 

 

/ / / 

 

"Volunteers for first watch?"

Unenthusiastically, Blake poked a stick at the glowing, shifting embers of the fire, feeling heat emanate from the red bed of coals. Ruby piped up in agreement, and with a sigh, Blake dropped the stick and watched flames furl over it and turn it to char. "I'll take second watch," she said, looking into the blue-gold heart of the fire. It hissed with a crackling purr, sparks floating skyward. 

"Dibs on third," Yang yawned, and Weiss looked annoyed. 

"Last for me, I suppose," she muttered. 

"Poor Weiss," Ruby teased. "Having to get up with the morning birdies must be really awful." 

"I don't think those exist in a smoking wasteland."

Yang grinned. "Yeah, there is a morning birdie. It's called a _fucking Nevermore_ and it'll tear your throat out before cockadoodledooing at the sun."

"LANGUAGE, YANG." 

"No need to sugarcoat it! Geez. People on watch gotta be alert, my icy friend. And not scared of the lack of morning songbirds. There's just death and abject lack of decor out here. Not to mention the hideous infestation problem." 

"You're _not_ funny. This is seriously dangerous place. Do you want a Grimm or something worse to sneak up behind you and put a talon through your spine before you can call for help?"

"Harsh," Yang winced. "You're going to frighten Ruby, Weiss."

"Hah!" Ruby crowed. "Scare me? I've killed more Grimm than you've told bad puns, Yang. Don't hold your breath."

"Excuse me," Blake said drily, "I hate to intervene while you three are parleying about your tales of grandeur, but _aren't we here for a reason?"_

Ruby at least had the good grace to look guilty while Yang twiddled her thumbs innocently and whistled. "Right, right, sorry, Blake. I'm on it. Eyes peeled for criminal activity. I won't even blink - " 

"I think you'll be safe blinking, Ruby. We don't need our guard going blind; that defeats the purpose, wouldn't you think?" 

 

**_(DAY 064)_ **

 

"I can't believe it's over. The White Fang's plans, Torchwick... all of it. It's over, " she repeated. "And I'm free now." 

Sun looked at her sympathetically. "Seems unreal, huh?"

"Yeah." She looked down into the rippling fountain water. "I mean, now we've got the Vytal Festival to prepare for. I didn't realize the speed of which things would move forward, like being trapped while danger bears down on you - " 

"You've been reading too much, Blake," he murmured affectionately. "You'll be fine in the tournament. Absolutely fine. You're a brilliant fighter." 

"You think so?" 

He brushed a strand of hair from her face, eyes glowing like his namesake. She wondered why, even with his proximity, all she could think about was the deep sadness in Yang's eyes, the look there when Blake had opened an unfathomable abyss between them with a few careless words. "I know so."

 


End file.
